[Imc-newsroom] Housing/Online Organizing/Getting Real/AP Daybook

Fri May 6 19:40:40 CDT 2005

COMMUNITY MEDIA WORKSHOP'S eNOTES - Friday, May 6, 2005
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On Chicago's CAN TV Channel 21. . . 

* MAKING HOUSING AFFORDABLE *
featured Saturday, May 7, 8 p.m. on Community, Media & You

Workers in Chicago need to make nearly $20 per hour to afford to rent an
average two-bedroom apartment in Chicago; this is out of reach for many or
requires working more than a 40-hour work week. Alderman Toni Preckwinkle,
Tom Walsh of Balanced Development Coalition, and Joy Aruguete of the
Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp. discuss the set-aside housing ordinance
requiring developers to include units for working-class buyers and renters
in all market housing projects, with host Thom Clark.

Also on CAN-TV Channel 21 . . .

* STUDS TERKEL AWARDS 2005 *
Sunday, May 8, 2005, 5 p.m. and Monday, May 9, 2005, Noon

Features tributes to Lu Palmer, Vernon Jarrett and Grant Pick, wit and
wisdom of awardees Tracy Baim, John Conroy and Mary Schmich, and Studs
Terkel himself. 

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Coming up at the Workshop . . .

* STOP BEING A BORE: USE CREATIVITY IN YOUR MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS *
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - 1 - 4 p.m. / $95 per person
Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago

There are times to be traditional and there are times you need to shake it
up. We'll
talk about viral marketing, blogs, creative visuals, guerilla PR tips,
web-sites as
news-sites, tactics of TrueMajority.org and MoveOn.org, and online
organizing. Taught by Aaron Toso, Senior Account Executive with
Denver-based Cause
Communications. Register and learn about other workshops preceeding the
Making Media Connections Conference at
http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Calendar+Sub&main_id=454.

Keynoters at the Making Media Connections Conference . . .

* ALEX KOTLOWTIZ: WAYS TO IMPROVE COVERAGE OF "REAL" CHICAGO STORIES *
Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 9:10 a.m. 
Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago 

Alex Kotlowitz is best known as the author of There Are No Children Here,
the stunning award-winning epic about two Chicago children growing up in
public housing. Alex finding his best stories on the fringes of society.
His most recent book, Never a City So Real, explores Chicago from the
ground up through the eyes of some of its resident outsiders.

* MARY MITCHELL: HOW THE MEDIA CAN AND SHOULD GET REAL *
Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 1:15 a.m.
Columbia College Chicago, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago

Mary's weekly column addresses issues that concern us all: justice, social
responsibility, family and race. An editorial board member for the Chicago
Sun-Times, Mary combines reporting, hard facts and common sense to cover
political, societal and personal issues. She is a frequent panelist on
television and radio news programs.

Learn more about Alex, Mary and the Making Media Connections Conference at
http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Calendar&main_id=440.

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Recently Asked Question . . .

* WHAT IS THE AP DAYBOOK? *

Mark Donahue and Yvonne Hortillo handle the Daybook for the Chicago bureau.
Here's how Mark explains it:

The AP Daybook is an electronic planner of upcoming events that runs on
the (Associated Press) wire three times a day. It's intended for our
members to use for
planning purposes. We encourage them NOT to publish it, as it often has
sensitive contact phone numbers on it. Most of the major AP bureaus have
their own local daybooks (New York, Washington, etc.).

The Daybook exists as far ahead as we have material available. Right
now, the copy in our system has events listed through early June. But
when we run it out for members on the wire, we give them the current
day's listings and those for the next six days, a week's worth.

Here's a sample entry from today's Daybook to give you an idea... 

CHICAGO -- Mayor Daley attends the city police department's graduation
ceremony. 9:25 a.m. Navy Pier, grand ballroom, 600 E. Grand Ave.
Contact: 312-744-3334 or 312-745-6110.

Who gets on the Daybook? People, groups or offices who are planning
actual spot events with a time, place and date. We put events from Mayor
Daley and Gov. Blagojevich on it, along with those from other state/city
offices: attorney general, secretary of state, etc. In addition, we put
on important court dates, community rallies, protests, academic
conferences of note, sports team announcements and ribbon cuttings, to
name just a few. If it would be of real news interest to our members,
it's on there.

How do you get something on the Daybook? For the AP Chicago Daybook,
your event must be happening in the state of Illinois, that's our
jurisdiction. If it's a conference call, it should apply to Illinois.
Then, simply send us a news release by fax to 312-930-9564 or email:
mdonahue at ap.org.

>From there, we'll determine if the event should go on. I will say that
we shy away from blatant company promotions for products or services. We
don't want to seem like we're endorsing something people should pay for.

To learn more about the Associated Press, meet Melanie Coffee at on June 2
at the Making Media Conference.  Melanie, Amanda Paulson of the Christian
Science Monitor and Wendy Cole with TIme Magazine will discuss how to get
national exposure for your stories at the "Going National" panel
discussion. The full schedule of timely discussions at the conference is
available via
http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Calendar&main_id=440.

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work in their community connect with the media and visa versa. We provide
workshops, an annual conference, a media guide, a journalists' tipsheet,
briefing papers, sources, and sponsor the Studs Terkel Awards.

Community Media Workshop 
at Columbia College 
600 S. Michigan 
Chicago, IL 60605 
312-344-6400 
http://www.newstips.org

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